190L Trigon - my first planted tank

[Tiber]

Havent had a tank in over a decade, but I recently bought a 190l trigon on Facebook. Had no idea what I wanted to do with the tank when I bought it, then I saw this on google and loved the idea of an AT-AT surrounded by a jungle style tank.

Successfully tracked down the ornament I wanted, oddly, I will be pleased if it ever ends up covered in algae or moss.


My tank came with a 3d background and a layer of gravel and water which seemed to have been lying in the bottom for months. Needed a good clean, but my cats were instantly fascinated.

Got this all drained out, but the 3d background was filthy so I took it off. Depressingly, I realised it was held on with all of the silicone in the world. This came off ok, but it left a nasty residue. Tried everything from vinegar to goo gone and acetone and it refused to come off.

I had hoped to go without a background but as the residue looked bad I ended up buying the cheapest internal background I could find - which is held on securely by just a tiny amount of silicone! Then added a couple of bags of Tropica under gravel substrate which I have read should be good for my plants


The tank came with a brand new bag of black gravel, which I decided to use (I also have enough fake plants and ornaments to stock a brand new Pets at Home Store) and I think it looks quite nice. I also added in my beloved At-at decoration, some wood and a piece of rock


After some delays my delivery from Aquatic Gardens arrived today. I just added them in, I might actually get some water in the tank soon.

The plants were labelled background, mid and foreground, I tried to follow this but do admit that I put them in kinda randomly.

Still have lots to do. Need to cycle the tank and try to keep my plants alive, but I think it looks ok so far considering I have no idea what I'm doing.

 

[Tiber]

Would be nice to actually get some fish at some point. I have had the tank for weeks and still don't have any water nevermind a cycled tank! Will get it filled up this evening after work

 

[Tiber]

Filled the tank with water last night and got the filter running. I seem to have aquired a few magically floating plants overnight, but overall things seem to be starting off ok

 

[Tiber]

Filled the tank with water last night and got the filter running. I seem to have aquired a few magically floating plants overnight, but overall things seem to be starting off ok

View attachment 184316

All of my background plants had been really thriving, they are nearly as tall as the water line now. I was about to add fish, then suddenly my 3d background came loose.

I had to re-silicone it which meant leaving it to dry for 48 hours. I won't post any pictures because it is depressing, but my poor plants didn't enjoy the experience. I kept some water in the very bottom of the tank and kept constantly misting them with a spray bottle but all of my taller plants quickly dried out and shriveled up. The smaller plants fared a bit better.

It's been a couple of days now, most of my smaller plants seem to be ok, a few brown spots but mostly back to a healthy colour. The large leafy plant which had totally shriveled up still looks a bit wrinkley but is looking much more healthy. But I'm not sure if I am ever going to save these


It does actually look a bit more healthy than it did, all the leaves were totally turned in on themselves and a few now look almost back to normal. But I'm a bit cross because these were the plants that were really thriving and had doubled in size

 

[Hufsa]

Sorry to hear about your plant troubles! The parts that are firm and opaque can still be good, it looks like there might be some solid growth at the tip of the plant you posted. You could carefully trim off parts that are going translucent and remove that from the tank, that will keep waste levels down in your water column. For the stuff that isnt translucent its just a matter of waiting and seeing what bounces back. Wish them a speedy recovery 😊

 

[The Miniaturist]

Hi there,
I'm sure you have everyone's sympathies here, it looked as though you were going to have some nice big sculptural plants in the background.
If you need to drain the tank down again it might be worth uprooting the stiff leaved plants & dropping them in a bucket of tank water, then replanting after refilling.
Keep up with the journal, I want to see the At-At covered in moss! 👍🏻

 

[Tiber]

Hi there,
I'm sure you have everyone's sympathies here, it looked as though you were going to have some nice big sculptural plants in the background.
If you need to drain the tank down again it might be worth uprooting the stiff leaved plants & dropping them in a bucket of tank water, then replanting after refilling.
Keep up with the journal, I want to see the At-At covered in moss! 👍🏻

Thanks, I did think about putting them in a bucket but I thought it might be better to keep them damp and rooted in the nutrient rich soil but it doesn't seem to have been the right decision.

 

[Tiber]

The large leafy plant is doing badly, but the tall plants are doing much better. All their leaves fell off since my last post, but they have grown taller and have grown new leaves on the top

The long plant on the right seems to have a somewhat broken stem, but it keeps growing quicker than anything else in the tank so I guess it's fine.

 

[Tiber]

This large leafy plant was my favourite plant in the tank and prior to being dried out it was growing really well. The leaves had all turned in on themselves, but did reopen after I refilled the tank, so I hoped I might be able to save it. Sadly it seems to be slowly dieing over the last few weeks, one leaf looks good, but most of the rest are turning ever more brown and one turned completely into stringy stuff very quickly.

I suppose I shouldnt really complain as the rest of the plants seem to be recovering, but I liked this one

 

[Hufsa]

For your swordplant, the latest picture you posted, focus on the growth that is emerging from the center of the plant. The outermost leaves of the rosette are the oldest, and loss of these is not really a big deal. Swordplants are most commonly sold as emersed grown plants, so the plant will get rid of its old leaves adapted to growing out of water (emersed), and produce new submersed (below water) leaves instead. Yours probably got a bit of a hard time with the drying out, but as long as there is new growth coming in the center then it will likely be ok

 

[Tiber]

Still, despite the issues with the silicone, since adding some fish a few days ago, the tank is proving very popular with the general public

 

[Karmicnull]

Even with the on-off start you've had, the "AT-AT abandoned in forest" look is definitely starting to happen

 

[The Miniaturist]

Bearing in mind it's only been a week since you had the plants dry up, they seem to be bouncing back pretty well.
You seem to have aquatic green fingers! 😄

 

[Tiber]

Bearing in mind it's only been a week since you had the plants dry up, they seem to be bouncing back pretty well.
You seem to have aquatic green fingers! 😄

Ah yes, I went for the complicated 'put in a large amount of fertilizer and hope for the best' method

 

[Tiber]

The large leafy plant is doing badly, but the tall plants are doing much better. All their leaves fell off since my last post, but they have grown taller and have grown new leaves on the top

View attachment 186325


The long plant on the right seems to have a somewhat broken stem, but it keeps growing quicker than anything else in the tank so I guess it's fine.

There has been noticeable growth even since this picture was taken on Sunday

Pretty quick growth, so it seems like my investment in tropica substrate underneath the gravel has been worth the money. Whilst plants are growing upwards well I suppose it doesn't look very thickly planted so maybe I should consider adding in some extra plants?

I have tried to keep the area infront of the AT-AT clear, I planted some moss here which I assumed would turn into a carpet, but it doesn't seem to be spreading very quickly.

I just use a bottle of Tropica Premium Nutrition Fertilizer I found in Pets at Home. Never used any fertilizer before, just bought this because I figured Tropica is a good brand.

In terms of fish, I added 10 young livebearers about a week ago and they have thrived. They are delightful fish, always right at the front of the tank and where 1 goes the other 9 quickly follow - you would think they are tetras. Though I admit that when I bought them I hadn't really thought through the perils of adding males and females.

I also added 2 young Electric Blue Rams today, which are fish I have always wanted to keep. Though were very stressed out by the trip from the LFS (the livebearers didn't seem to care less and started to explore the second I added them to the tank) and have been hiding since I added them

Beautiful fish though

 

[Tiber]

I have never kept them, but was dead set on adding shrimp to this tank. Sadly it seems just about every fish I want to add will eat them, so I won't subject them to that. Which is a shame as I am not adding any particularly big or aggressive fish so assumed I would be fine

 

[The Miniaturist]

I found Tropica substrate under sand or gravel gave good results, it doesn't leach a lot of ammonia either.
I'd suggest cutting the tall stem plants lower, trimming the bald stems off & replanting the top part. You will then have two stems growing up & it will help increase your plant mass. It's also a good idea to cut the dead leaves off your Amazon sword, they won't regrow & the plant will put more energy into growing fresh new leaves.
Tropica premium is not a 'complete' fertiliser with all the nutrients required for good plant growth but I'm sure someone can recommend a suitable one!
Moss isn't generally used as a carpeting plant, it grows on stones, wood, your At-At it may struggle in the gravel.
I imagine the rams are a bit overawed finding themselves in a huge aquarium but once the plant mass increases & they settle they will probably decide they own the whole tank! My male is a real show off, thinks he's going to be fed hourly if he parades up & down the front glass!

 

[Tiber]

Live bearers don't seem to care less about anything in the tank, they just zoom around all day. The new rams seem to enjoy the plants, they are always picking at them and swimming amongst the leaves

 

[Tiber]

I found Tropica substrate under sand or gravel gave good results, it doesn't leach a lot of ammonia either.
I'd suggest cutting the tall stem plants lower, trimming the bald stems off & replanting the top part. You will then have two stems growing up & it will help increase your plant mass. It's also a good idea to cut the dead leaves off your Amazon sword, they won't regrow & the plant will put more energy into growing fresh new leaves.
Tropica premium is not a 'complete' fertiliser with all the nutrients required for good plant growth but I'm sure someone can recommend a suitable one!
Moss isn't generally used as a carpeting plant, it grows on stones, wood, your At-At it may struggle in the gravel.
I imagine the rams are a bit overawed finding themselves in a huge aquarium but once the plant mass increases & they settle they will probably decide they own the whole tank! My male is a real show off, thinks he's going to be fed hourly if he parades up & down the front glass!

So if I cut the tops off the tall plants and replant them in the gravel it will grow roots and give me two plants?

 

[The Miniaturist]

Yes, that's correct. The stem with roots will produce a new growing point & grow leaves. The top part cut off & replanted will grow roots.
Eventually you will end up with a nice group of stems for free! I cut & replant limnophila regularly as it grows quickly even under low-tech conditions, though I do remove some of the older stems occasionally when they stop producing good growth.